Seahawks rebound with 3-1 win over Mercer

Sunday

Sep 8, 2013 at 11:15 PM

The Seahawks controlled the action on the field against Mercer and the scoreboard, in a 3-1 final.

By Tom Gradyjtgrady@ec.rr.com

The UNCW men's soccer team was looking to rebound Sunday afternoon from a 2-1 loss on Friday to Presbyterian in the Hilton Garden Inn Classic at UNCW Soccer Stadium. The Seahawks controlled the action on the field against Mercer and the scoreboard, in a 3-1 final. Rebound in hand, UNCW coach Aidan Heaney talked about where his 24th-ranked team stands in the early going, with a 3-1 record. "We've just got to keep getting better as a team," Heaney said. "We did some things well on Friday and then we did some things that we didn't execute. "Today, we did some good things. Our team showed some character to bounce back. So that was most pleasing." The final tally was established late, on Jamie Dell's goal in the 89th minute. Dell raced across midfield, settled in a pass and dribbled through and past the defense to create a one-on-one with goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh. Inside the Mercer box in the 13th minute, Colin Bonner deflected the ball to teammate Mark Harris, who finished for a 1-0 lead. In the 40th minute, the Seahawks increased their advantage to 2-0. Jack Ward sent a pass across the goal front, where Nathaniel Goodwin blasted the net. The Bears' only two shots of the first half were off direct free kicks. "I think it was just a mentality today," Goodwin said. "We were hard as nails today. Playing such a physical team, I thought we came out strong and got the first goal. "Definitely, there's always something to work on. Next week in practice we're going to work hard and we're going to come out the next week and play even better than we did today." Mercer got on the board in the 71st minute, on James Walters' stinging header. The play was set up by David Murtaugh's corner kick. The Bears picked up some momentum off the scoring play, but the Seahawks back line held firm to the final whistle. "In the second half, we knew it was going to be difficult, because they were going to throw numbers forward," Heaney said. "I was disappointed that we let a goal in, but we defended resolutely, I thought." The Seahawks will travel to Elon Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.